TBA: Laura Arrington & Jesse Hewit

Since TBA has grown into an international festival, we asked curators from around the country to give us the inside scoop on their favorite artists. Read more of their picks.

"I can't help but root for "home team" artists Jesse Hewitt and Laura Arrington. Their partnership has been becoming more intimate, risky, strange and appealing ever since they began collaborating when we curated them into a shared residency here at CounterPULSE in 2010. They're in the studio as I write this, and the sounds emanating from the other side of the wall are intriguing and a bit disturbing—like the piece itself. They're sought-after instructors here in the Bay Area, and I hope Portland artists take advantage of the workshop they're offering." —Jessica Robinson Love, executive and artistic director at San Francisco’s CounterPULSE

"Laura Arrington and Jesse Hewitt are two of the new fresh voices in contemporary performance that understand that there is a new vein of work being created— intentionally and choreographically subverting the dance paradigm. In many ways, I find myself completely bored by the state of seriousness or conceptual nature of contemporary dance, but Laura and Jesse, and this special collaboration, give me hope for something fresh. And with all of that San Francisco energy and their real life fantasy world, this show is bound to push back all boundaries." —Ben Johnson, independent curator and arts programmer based in Los Angeles